Gabriella Rao, RD

Because strength training has benefitted me so much in my running journey, I wanted to touch on the importance of strength training for longevity in endurance sport. I will disclaim that I’m not a PT or personal trainer, but I am a certified running coach and have done a great deal of research on strength training in my time. Strength training is a super important part of any training cycle! It has many benefits, including:

• Injury prevention
• Building muscle strength and endurance
• Increasing power, speed, and running economy
• Improving functional capacity
• Helping to correct muscle imbalances which can improve efficiency and reduce risk of injury
• It’s also just empowering!

So, now that you’re aware of the many benefits of strength training, you might be wondering how you can incorporate it into your routine. Personally, I find that two, 45-60 minute lifting sessions per week work best for my life and running schedules — and I am still able to glean the benefits with two sessions per week. If you are new to lifting, you will likely see gains even with one session per week. 

What to include in your strength session:

Some athletes prefer to separate their lifts into body sections (e.g., leg day, upper body, back and core, etc.), but I find that I prefer to do full-body workouts in case life gets in the way and I have to skip a session once in a while. Typically, every strength session includes each of the following seven functional movements for building strength:

1. Squat
   • Bilateral: bodyweight squat, goblet squat, back squat
   • Unilateral: split squat
2. Hinge
   • Bilateral: deadlift, hip thrust, bridges
   • Unilateral: single leg deadlift, single leg RDL
3. Lunge
   • Step-ups onto a bench, lateral lunges, reverse lunges, walking lunges
4. Push
   • Push-up, bench press, overhead press
5. Pull
   • Dumbbell row, pull-ups, lat pull downs
6. Carry
   • Suitcase carry, farmer carry
7. Rotate
   • Medicine ball throw, wood chopper

Functional movement patterns replicate movements that you do in real life. You can see how a squat movement would help you to crouch down and pick up a toddler, a push movement would help you push your wheelbarrow out in the garden, etc. Functional movement patterns often involve multiple muscle groups and joints, which make them an efficient way to strength train (versus isolation movements — like a bicep curl, for example). 

How to build a workout:

1. Pick one exercise from each of the functional movement pattern types — or if not all 7, I would choose at least one from the first 5 movement types listed.
2. Choose a weight (or use body weight) that feels appropriately difficult and that you could complete for 8-12 repetitions.
3. Complete each exercise for 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps.
4. To progress from week to week, increase the weight you are lifting or the number of repetitions you are completing. You don’t have to progress every single week! 

Example workout: (how-to videos are linked)

• Goblet squat: 3 sets of 8 reps
• Hip thrust w/ dumbbell: 3 x 10
• Step-ups onto bench (bodyweight OR dumbbell): 3 x 10
• Push-ups: 3 x 10
• Dumbbell row on a bench: 3 x 8 each arm

Hope this was a helpful introduction into strength training! Feel free to email me with any questions. Happy lifting!

Best,
Gabby 🙂